Retired driver touts benefits of marijuana

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Edgar Murdoch is a user of medical marijuana. He also knows a thing or two about trucking.

Murdoch, 79, spent four decades plying North American highways as a professional truck driver. He says the career is largely to blame for him requiring the use of medicinal marijuana in retirement.

“Changing headlights and fixing wiring without benefit of gloves on the bald, barren wastelands of Canuckistan when it’s -40 C with a 40 mph wind blowing up your ass has an accumulative effect which after 40, 50 or 60 years adds up to considerable arthritic pain,” Murdoch told Truck News. “I never did cannabis while I was on the road but I started last winter.”

Murdoch consumes his marijuana by baking it into oatmeal squares, complete with raisins, cacao, cinnamon, brown sugar and honey.

“My experience has been very positive,” he said. “There is still some discomfort but not the excruciating pain there once was and I can actually make a fist with my left hand, something I couldn’t do several months ago.”

Murdoch, who once held a position as safety officer within the trucking industry, said when used responsibly, medical marijuana shouldn’t preclude a professional driver from continuing their career.

“The frenetic madness surrounding the whole argument regarding the use of this beneficial substance is driven by money and control and misinformation disseminated by the pharmaceuticals and other self-interest groups, not by sane reasoning or independent research conducted by real scientists with nothing to gain,” Murdoch said. “If used responsibly, as in the use of all prescription drugs, the use of medical marijuana is no more dangerous to the safety of the motoring public than taking a Tylenol 3 with codeine, which can only be had on prescription. The sensible driver will take it prior to bedtime and trust me, it does lead to a much better night’s rest.”

Murdoch said taking medical marijuana before bed allows him to sleep eight hours straight. Furthermore, he said medical marijuana has a “curative” effect that other prescription drugs lack.

“Cannabis is not just therapeutic, but curative as well,” he insisted, noting the arthritis in his hands has abated somewhat since he began using the drug.

James Menzies

James Menzies is editor of Truck News magazine. He has been covering the Canadian trucking industry for more than 15 years and holds a CDL. Reach him at james@newcom.ca or follow him on Twitter at @JamesMenzies. All posts by James Menzies